Every time an opportunity comes up to dress as a character I brainstorm for ages but I actually rarely get to dress up as anything exciting. Here are some costume ideas for brown and black girls to use for Halloween or other costume events.

Please take a moment to check out this video from Nabela Noor. 1:40-1:56 is my favourite part, I honestly laughed so hard. I love Nabela’s acting.

All of the pictures and gifs used in this post are sourced from the first page of Google Images of typing the character’s name.

Chel from The Road to El DoradoThis is one of the most entertaining animated films out there. They don’t make them like this these days. It was one of those movies my brothers and I wouldn’t watch for ages but then when we did re-watch it we were like “YAAAASS forgot how damn good this was!!” Cheeky Chel was so funny and flirty. The clever girl got Tulio and Miguel through their ordeal in the City of Gold.
I love Chel’s outfit. A cute pink and cream bandeau and knotted cream coloured skirt with slits, paired with some large pale blue earrings and bangles or gold earrings and you’re set! I’d love to dress up as Chel but honestly my mother would have a heart attack if I was out in public dressed that haram. Such a shame considering I look bangin’ with blunt bangs!

Esmeralda from The Hunchback of NotreDame
Esmeralda is such a stunning character. She is strong-willed and generous with a good heart. Find a cream or white coloured off shoulder top, a purple maxi skirt and a few accessories and you’ll be look notre-dammmmnnnn-fine.
Often people gravitate towards Jasmine as their go-to brown girl character from Disney, but Esmeralda is one foxy babe and worth considering! In fact you could probably wear the pieces from Esmeralda’s outfit repeatedly throughout the seasons.

Martha Jones from Doctor WhoLiterally one of the best ever companions to ever grace the TARDIS. Witty, intelligent, loyal. Martha Jones is a total BAMF. Fucking love her to bits and my heart aches thinking of the hardships her character endured. There are many many costume choices with Martha as she had outfit changes throughout episodes. I dressed as Martha Jones for a fancy-dress party a few years ago. It was my best friend at the time’s younger sister’s birthday bash and I dressed as Martha in the episode “Smith and Jones” s3e1. Photo not included because it’s blurry and embarrassing. 😛

Lieutenant Uhura from Star TrekNyota Uhura is one of my favourite Star Trek characters! I would get so excited whenever she appeared on screen when I eventually began watching the show. There is the Nichelle Nicholls version to dress up as and more recently the Zoe Saldana version from the film. A simple red dress with some yellow and black accessories will nail your look.
Fun fact: after the show was cancelled Nichols went on to work with NASA to help minorities and females get recruited, with another company she helped run called ‘Women in Motion’ and one of their recruits Dr Sally Ride was the first female astronaut in America.

Mindy Lahiri from The Mindy ProjectOnce again there are many outfit options here, as the outfits change from episode to episode. Bright yellows and pinks are key here, as well as bold shoes and accessories like headbands, belts and cute bags. Mindy is a hilarious character. She has a lot of self-love and she tries to support her friends. I think the first couple of seasons of this show are way better than the later seasons, but it is always going to have a special place in my heart.Go and channel your inner Beyonce Pad Thai at your next costumed event!

Princess Yum-Yum from The Thief and the Cobbler
I have saved my favourite for last. Also titled as The Princess and the Cobbler, this movie was fucking phenomenal and if you remember it from your childhood then you are cool beans in my book. I loved how Tack (the main man who is the titular cobbler) was super pale in the beginning but got more substantial in colour as the film progressed. This film actually has a really rich backstory and history which is interesting to read about. Princess Yum-Yum is now my nickname between a few of my coworkers now because I keep referring to her as being one of my favourite characters ever. I would love, love, LOVE to dress as her for a costume part with some huge red plastic love heart earrings and tikka. I love her big purple eyes and her gorgeous brown skin. Like with Chel, my mum would have a heart attack if I went around dressed as Princess Yum-Yum. Looking all haram, cleavage exposed and all that hahaha. Yum-Yum indeed. 😉
I highly encourage all you other dark-skin sisters out there to recreate her look. Bonus points if you can find a tall lanky, pale dude to be your Tack for a couples costume. Pin that Tack to your side. 😛

I hope all you brown girls enjoyed that if you needed some more ideas. Drop a comment below if you’d like to see a food version of a costume idea list (even though Halloween 2017 is tomorrow).

Throwback to 2014. My best friend Saira took this photo and I took some of her. I was really into OOTD stuff back then. 🙂

Following the last post which was my first submission to the student newspaper at UWS, here is my second submission the next year that also made the cut. I wrote about fashion at university because I thought it suited the university publication, but most of it is still relevant to TAFE or work environments. This one isn’t available on the Cruwsible site.

I remember I loved creating outfits and uni was a place I went to frequently and could make myself look ‘put-together’ for. I found this secluded brick wall at Bankstown campus I loved ‘posing’ and taking OOTD pictures at. My girlfriends at uni called it “Sabrina’s wall” and it became a thing to our group to take photos there and chill when we were together. If you crawl through earlier posts you might discover photos from that location, if I haven’t successfully removed all my old fashion posts.

Everyone has their own approach to dressing for university. For school-leavers especially, after a long era of uniforms it’s a nice way to express oneself through their wardrobe. Students of all ages however should make an effort to dress for uni. It’s nice to make yourself presentable for uni because in a way it shows your lecturers and tutors that you respect them and that you take your place of study seriously. To quote the American fashion designer Tom Ford: “Dressing well is a form of good manners.”Continue reading “Reasons to look your best at university.”→

Hi all, this is one of the first articles I submitted in my undergrad to the student newspaper (named Cruwsible at the time) about FanFiction. This piece won me first prize in the publication’s first ever writing competition. I remember writing a lot more at the time, but reducing it to fit the submission guidelines. I wanted to share it here as well. It can also be read on the publication site -> here. I remember sending it to the editor with the title “Literachore” thinking I was making a hilarious joke about worldbuilding. I love a good pun, and even a bad one.

I accidentally and luckily discovered fanfiction back in 2006. Fanfiction is, as its name indicates, fictional writings by fans. Fanfiction can be based upon television shows, novels, video games, graphic novels, plays, films, and even historical figures and celebrities. The stories can utilise the pre-existing characters, situations, and settings of fictional worlds in a variety of ways. The stories can have a great deal or very little in common with the canon of their chosen fandom (fanatic domain). Continue reading “Fanfiction: immersion in existing works from readers and writers”→

Online gaming has been around for decades and has transformed a lot in that time. These games can be partially or entirely played on the internet with the aid of a computing device or other console devices that allows the user to connect to a server. The transformation of online gaming mirrors the way computing itself has changed over the years as technology was improved. This paper (yes another piece of homework from me) will aim to clarify the historical and artistic context of online gaming, business, as well as what impacts the medium of gaming has had with other digital and interactive media. Continue reading “Online Gaming – an investigation”→

These were delicious. My MUM even liked them, and my mother is a woman who rarely eats chocolate and NEVER eats chocolate biscuits. This took me so long to make though. I just wish I had a food processor and didn’t need to crush cookies by hand. Cookies and cream is such a great dessert flavour. Continue reading “Oreo cheesecake bars.”→

Mise-en-scene is elemental to consider when examining a film’s style. It makes up all the details that deliver the story to the audience, and whether overt or subtle it serves to enhance what we receive. Director Ashutosh Gowariker’s 2001 film Lagaan is a blend of the genres of sports drama, Bollywood, period, and epic with a running time that exceeds three and a half hours. It received a very high level of international critical acclaim. “Lagaan” is Hindi for ‘taxation’ and the film follows a small West Indian village’s plight to erase their tax commitment to the British settlement. This paper will aim to clarify how the film Lagaan uses mise-en-scene to achieve a more vivid and rich production.

The acting style is dramatic and typical of South Asian cinema. In the film, a British captain named Andrew Russell (played by Paul Blackthorne) on a whim first doubles the tax of the provinces he oversees, and then reverses it based on the outcome of a cricket match against one village. His younger sister Elizabeth (played by Rachel Shelley) secretly helps the Indians to train for the match. Bhuvan (portrayed by Amir Khan) is the leading protagonist and delivers many heartfelt lines that represent his values. His good character is reinforced by his Continue reading “Mise-en-scene in Lagaan (2001).”→